European property services firms target increased fund management exposure

European Property services firms are planning to supplement transactional income by growing their fund management businesses and investments in third party vehicles.

UK and European property services firms are set to increase their participation in unlisted real estate vehicles.

Cushman & Wakefield Investors, DTZ Investment Management, and GVA Grimley are among those expanding in the area, according to a feature to be published in PERE next month.

“The world is changing in terms of property services,” says GVA Grimley chairman of capital markets Rob Bould, “We are looking at what we could do to stimulate more business in this economic downturn we are facing.”

Bould says his firm has agreed to become a seed investor in a UK recovery fund managed by London-based private equity company, Palmer Capital Partners. As part of this agreement, the firm will provide the fund with property services advice, as it uses the exercise to evaluate launching a fund managment platform of its own.

To read the full article, see May’s issue of PERE.